This is a five-page long document with quotes from Mr Birling and accompanying analysis for all three acts of the play. This helped me to receive a 9 in my English Literature GCSE and 30/30 in the 'An Inspector Calls' question.
“A heavy looking, rather portentous man...rather provincial in this speech”
● Physical representation of capitalist greed
● Portentous - self-important (but Mr Birling is also insecure and needs to assert social
superiority)
● “Provincial” - he possibly didn’t go up rich and wants to hang onto his self-made
fortune (he may also be socially inferior to his wife Sybil and Gerald’s parents)
● “Good dinner...tell cook from me” suggests that Mr Birling doesn’t have the same
etiquette that Sybil has and tries hard to keep up
“You ought to like this port, Gerald”
● Wants to show off his wealth and aims to impress Mr Croft as his superior
“Perhaps we may look forward to a time when Crofts and Birlings...are working
together - for lower costs and higher prices”
● Sheila’s engagement is a business opportunity to Mr Birling
● He is selfish because he wants to make money at the expense of other people and
exploits the working class (themes of capitalism)
“A man has to look after himself”
● Mr Birling is a selfish capitalist
● He doesn’t care about the lower classes in society - only himself, his family and to
some extent other people in his social class
“Just a knighthood, of course”
● Shows off by pretending to appear modest
● Mr Birling wants to appear as socially ‘matched’ to the Crofts and thinks that getting a
knighthood will impress them, even though he hasn’t even got it yet
“Clothes mean...to a woman...a sort of sign or token of their self-respect”
● Highlights Sheila’s materialism - clothes seem to determine their wealth and place in
society
● Subtly condescending - Mr Birling refers to “stereotypical” women like aliens and as if
they are crazy for having an interest in clothes
“She was one of my employees and then I discharged her”
● Power imbalance
● Eva Smith was not treated like a human, but as an object for Mr Birling’s financial
benefit
“Obviously it has nothing whatever to do with the wretched girl’s suicide”
● Mr Birling is growing impatient and is fearful that the Inspector will uncover something
that will damage his reputation
● “Wretched” can be used to express anger or annoyance
, “Still, I can’t accept any responsibility”
● Cares about his reputation more than a girl’s life
● Lack of sympathy - remorseless
“It’s my duty to keep labour costs down...if they didn’t like those rates, they could go
and work somewhere else.”
“So was the strike...pitiful affair.”
● Condescending
● Suggests that the working class cannot contribute positively to society
● Highlights the power imbalance between classes - they didn’t have the resources to
properly strike so continued being exploited for Mr Birling’s gain
“If you don’t come down sharply on some of these people, they’d soon be asking for
the earth”
● Inspector Goole replies: “it’s better to ask for the earth than to take it”
● Capitalism vs socialism argument
● Exaggeration/hyperbole - Eva Smith only asked for a small wage increase
“Any idea what happened to her after that? Get into trouble? Go on the streets?”
“And she got herself into trouble there, I suppose?...not doing her work properly?”
● Condescending
● Creates stereotypes about working class people and suggests that they always get
into trouble and aren’t hard-working
“I’ve half a mind to report you”
● Uses his power and influence to threaten the Inspector
“And a nasty mess you’ve made of it now, haven’t you?”
● Still condescending and threatening
“Why the devil do you want to go upsetting the child like that?”
● Patronising - Sheila is no longer a child
● Makes her seem immature and oblivious
● Perhaps he knows that Sheila is the most insightful and critical of them all, and he
doesn’t want her to make sense of things
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